Bill H.142
188th (2013 - 2014)

An Act relative to the licensure and regulation of au pair and nanny agencies by the Department of Early Education and Care

Bill Title: An Act relative to the licensure and regulation of au pair and nanny agencies by the Department of Early Education and Care

By Ms. Poirier of North Attleborough, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 142) of Elizabeth A. Poirier relative to the licensure and regulation of au pair and nanny agencies by the Office of Child Care Services. Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities.

SECTION 1. Chapter 15D of the 2010 Mass. General Laws is hereby amended by adding, after section 7C, the following new section:—

Section 7D. The Department of Early Education and Care, hereafter known as the Department, is hereby authorized and directed to establish, implement, provide oversight to, and promulgate regulations for, a licensure and approval process for employment and placement agencies as defined in section two of this chapter, who are engaged in placing au pairs and nannies, as defined in section two of this chapter, in a private residence for the purposes of performing child care services and duties on a full time or regular basis.

Such agencies shall provide verification to the Department to the effect that each au pair and nanny, prior to being placed in a private residence, and wherein stated during said placement, has met the specific standards and criteria stated in this section, and shall develop forms and procedures approved by the Department for such verification. No employment or placement agency shall place any person defined in section two for the purposes of providing child care services unless the standards approved by the Department and all other statutory and regulatory obligations are fulfilled. The Commissioner of the Department, in conjunction with the employment or placement agency, may exercise discretion and flexibility in the evaluation and consideration of standards to be met and in determinations of substitute or alternative criteria which would fulfill such requirements or their equivalent. The Commissioner may consider documented training or experience in a child care program or school, a nursery, or other acceptable participation in coursework or experience submitted by the au pair and nanny through the employment or placement agency as equivalent criteria required to meet educational and training standards. The Commissioner may accept as fulfillment of the requirements, and may further approve of, programs of education and training in child care services, child development, child welfare, or other, or certification or diplomas or degrees received by au pairs and nannies in their home countries, as approved of and verified by, the placement or employment agency in its submissions to the Department. The licensing of employment and placement agencies shall be dependent upon the verification by the employment and placement agencies, of the following requirements to be met by au pairs and nannies, which shall be fulfilled in addition to those set forth in the federal regulations of the USIA, 514.31 Au Pairs, requiring a thirty-two hour training period, and documented child care experiences constituting two hundred hours. However, if such thirty-two hour training period becomes fully accredited by a college, university, or recognized educational institute, such training hours may be applied by the Department as partial fulfillment of requirements in education and training as stated in this section. The Commissioner may ascertain and approve, in conjunction with the placement or employment agencies, that the persons teaching child care training and educational requirements are qualified professionals. The following standards and criteria shall be required of au pairs and nannies, subject to conditions set forth in this section: (a) two formal standard courses, or six semester hours, in early childhood education, or a certificate or vocational program in early childhood education, or equivalent, either during secondary educational coursework, or during post-secondary coursework in a recognized college, university other educational institution in child care training, child development, child welfare, or other appropriate coursework, classes or training, including substitutions in educational courses and/or work experience determined as acceptable by the Commissioner; (b) participation in at least three days in-service training and education in early childhood education, child development and child welfare and safety, or other such appropriate child care services training, either midway through the year of the placement of the au air, or at intervals during the year of placement, as approved by the Commissioner, in conjunction with the employment or placement agency; (c) certification in CPR and Basic First Aid; (d) screening and background checks for criminal and juvenile conduct including psychological assessments, health and medical examinations, school records and attendance, which shall be provided by au pairs and nannies or solicited by the employment or placement agencies through school records, references from counselors, teachers, or other school personnel, police authorities, driving records, or through other means available and as approved by the Commissioner. No au pair or nanny as defined in section two of this chapter, who is eighteen or nineteen years of age, shall be placed in a private residence for the purposes of providing child care to more than two children who are each under the age of five years. The Commissioner shall provide notification to each employment and placement agency to be licensed, that they and all personnel involved with the au pair and nanny programs, are mandated reporters of child abuse and neglect, as stated in chapter one hundred and nineteen, section fifty-one A of the Massachusetts General Laws.

The provisions of this chapter as applied to the licensing of placement or employment agencies for au pairs and nannies, as defined in section two, shall take effect on June 30, 2014.

SECTION 2. Section 2 of chapter 28A is hereby amended by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:—

For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply.

“Foreign or domestic au pair and nanny placement or employment agency” — any educational or cultural foundation, institution, agency, company or otherwise named, which for a fee or other payment, procures, solicits, or attempts to procure or solicit, from outside or within the commonwealth and from outside or within the United States, persons who enter through a J Exchange Program visa, or who enter through any other visa, or to whom such persons seek application, for the purposes of placement and/or employment in a private residence in the commonwealth, to act in the capacity of providing child care services as an au pair or nanny, either while living in the home or by providing child care in the home and living without the home, on a full time or regular basis. “Au Pair” — any person, ages 18-26, who, under the auspices of a cultural or educational agency or foundation or other such entity, enters the United States through an “exchange visitors” visa program, to be placed in a private residence in the commonwealth for the purposes of performing child care services and duties, in the capacity of a primary child care worker on a full-time or regular basis.

“Nanny” — any person 18-26, who is placed by an agency or company in a private residence, and who enters the United States and the commonwealth through any visa or is a citizen of the United States and resides in the commonwealth, and who lives within or without the home, for the purposes of performing child care services and duties, in the capacity of a primary child care worker on a full time or regular basis.

SECTION 3. Section 4 of chapter 28A is hereby amended by adding, in subsection (c), after the words, “family day care systems”, the following words, “and au pair and nanny agencies as defined in section two of this chapter."

SECTION 4. Section 11 of chapter 28A is hereby amended by adding, under subsection (a), after the words, “temporary shelter facility”, the following words, “or placement or employment agency as defined in section two of this chapter.”

SECTION 5. Section 10B of chapter 28A is hereby amended by adding at the end, the following paragraphs:—

Au Pair and Nanny Agencies, as defined in section two of this chapter, shall be required to provide quarterly reports to the Department of Early Education and Care which shall include:

a. the location and address of each au pair or nanny placement;

b. the total number of au pairs or nannies placed within the commonwealth and the areas of the state in which they are placed;

c. any change in placement or disrupted placement, or, removal of an au pair from a placement and the reasons for the change or removal; the new placement location, if applicable;

d. the dates of placement for each au pair or nanny and the duration of the placement;

e. the numbers of children and their ages in the care of each au pair or nanny;

f. the number of hours required for each au pair or nanny to provide child care, on a weekly basis;

g. a summary of the training and education and other requirements to be met under this Act, of each au pair and nanny placed, and the location and duration of the education and training or other requirement;

h. the number of hours of in-service training to be required of each au pair or nanny, who will provide the training and when it will occur during the placement. The au pair or nanny agency shall submit to the Department, prior to any placement of an au pair or nanny, documentation of each requirement to be fulfilled by the au pair or nanny and by the agency itself. The Department shall review all records and documents for meeting criteria and standards set forth in section 11B of this chapter for au pair and nanny agencies, as defined in section two of this Act, at the inception of the licensure and approval process, and thereafter on an annual basis, or more frequently if deemed necessary by the Commissioner, and shall ascertain by a method developed by the Department that all requirements and credentials set forth in this Act have been fulfilled. No au pair or nanny shall be placed in a private residence for the purposes of providing full time child care or child care on a regular basis, without meeting all credentials and requirements set forth in this Act.

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